CHAPTER 96: ROBIN (2)

"Really?" Robin sounded excited. Then in a teasing tone, "It doesn’t bother you that I could kick your ass?"

"I’m beginning to see why I was your first kiss," he said.

Even chill dudes didn’t like it when someone tried to imply they were weaker than a petite girl. He didn’t like it much either.

He wasn’t very fit and didn’t know how to fight, so it was probably true, but there were some things you just didn’t say unless you were trying to pick a fight. In this case, he wasn’t sure if she was testing him, of if she was just dense and didn’t understand what she was implying.

"What, did I offend you?" she asked, sounding a little defiant.

"No, I’m not offended, but I am concerned for your safety."

Most guys would scoff or deflect, but say that shit to the wrong guy and she’d get a beating in reply.

"What?!" She stopped walking. "Are you threatening me?" she said in a threatening tone.

He turned to face her.

"No, I am not threatening you. I am trying to explain that there is no guy on this planet that will be okay with being told, ’I can kick your ass,’ regardless of who is saying it. Tall dude, short dude, tall chick, short chick, whoever says it, no matter how they say it, it’s gonna come off as a threat. Even if it’s true, especially if it’s true, it will be viewed as a threat."

He took a calming breath.

"So, could you kick my ass right now? Yes, probably. Does it bother me? Sure. Not because you’re a girl, or because you’re small, but because I don’t like the idea of anyone being able to hurt me."

"There is no context I can think of where your question wouldn’t be viewed as a veiled threat. And asking the wrong person could endanger your life. So...what was your intention when you asked me that question?"

At first she looked defiant, stance guarded, but as he talked her stance relaxed, then slumped, and by the end she was looking at the ground.

In a subdued, slightly annoyed tone, she said, "You sound like my grandpa."

"I’ll take that as a compliment. And you still haven’t answered my question."

She squirmed a bit before saying, "I...I don’t know. I guess I wanted to know how you would respond? You didn’t respond like I expected to my other question, and I guess I was curious to see how you would respond if I poked your ego."

"And do you do that often? Poke a man’s ego?"

"Um, sure, I do it sometimes to new trainees, to see how teachable they are. Gramps does it all the time."

He sighed. "And have you ever done this in front of your grandfather?"

"Oh, um, I don’t think so, no."

"Then I suggest you talk to your grandfather about this conversation and your other forays into ego poking. I’d be curious to hear what he had to say. And one last thing to consider. Is there anyone at your training center that is my height, with your level of training, that you can defeat, even once?"

"Oh, um, there are students your size. And gramps has had me spar with a few students your size that have just earned a new belt and are acting a little cocky. But he’s never done that with anyone that just earned their blue belt. And I’ve never defeated any of the black belts that are your size."

"And what does that tell you?"

"Size matters?"

He chuckled. He knew Robin wasn’t making an innuendo, but couldn’t help but think about Miranda and how she appreciated the size of his equipment.

"What?" she asked, puzzled.

"Sorry. It’s just that what you said could have more than one meaning."

"What?" she said again. Then she blushed and said, "That’s not...I’m not..."

"It’s fine. I understood what you meant. Greater skill can overcome a size difference, but all other things being equal, bigger is better."

She giggled. "Now who’s saying something that could be misinterpreted?"

"What?" he said innocently. "We’re talking about taller, right?"

"Sure, sure we are," she replied dubiously.

At that moment, there was a loud growling sound. Someone was hungry.

"Is that a cougar in your pants or are you just hungry?" he asked with a smile.

Then before she could respond he said, "Come on, we’re almost to the restaurant, then you can feed your cougar."

She huffed in annoyed amusement and followed as he resumed walking.

They were passing a parking lot with a food truck parked in one corner, when Robin stopped and said, "No way! They have fish tacos!"

"Fish what?" he asked.

"Fish tacos. You know, tacos with fish instead of ground beef?" she sounded like he should know what she was talking about.

"I’ve never heard of fish tacos," he replied.

When he heard her say, "fish tacos" it reminded him of a movie he saw where there was a line about "dining at her pink taco stand."

"You have to try them. Can we eat here? Please! I haven’t had them since my trip to Port Solis."

"Sure, I guess that’s okay."

"Yay!" Robin gave a little hop.

Her hop just reinforced his image of her as a rabbit. And, even though she had much smaller breasts, probably b-cup, her crop top was tight enough that he was able to tell she was not wearing a bra, and her hop gave him a lovely view of her little sweater hamsters hopping.

She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the truck.

He looked at his hand in hers. It felt nice. And he didn’t think she’d done it consciously.

As they stood in line, he noticed that the only person in the truck was a younger woman, maybe mid to late twenties. Cute, and for some reason she gave off a surfer vibe. Or maybe it was just the truck’s art motif.

When they got to the front of the line, Robin said, "Oh, my god, this is so awesome. I haven’t had fish tacos since I was in Port Solis. And your truck looks amazing! Are you gonna be here for long, or are you moving around?"